


A Crack in the Foundation

by Emerald_Ashes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Broken Bones, Claustrophobia, Concussions, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 07:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13566063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Ashes/pseuds/Emerald_Ashes
Summary: A rescue goes wrong. It ends up leaving Hunk and Lance stranded, severely injured, and with no means of escape.





	A Crack in the Foundation

Hunk didn’t like the sound of the mission from the start. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, he truly did. It was just the circumstances surrounding the mission that gave him a bad vibe.

They were supposed to assist a planet called Jedax with its evacuations. Much like the people on the Balmera, the planet was used for mining. Its people were subjected to laboring ore out from under its planet’s surface. Over the years they had practically stripped it bare, while also destabilizing the planet’s core. While the people were aware of the issue, and attempted to warn the Galra numerous times, the Galra obviously didn’t care. So now it was essentially collapsing in on itself slowly, and the people had no means of escape. Luckily, the castle-ship had picked up on a distress signal they had sent out.

Voltron had already driven off the Galra soldiers stationed there, now they just had to get the people off world. Most of them had set up subterranean homes in the already mined tunnels. So team Voltron was told to direct the residents’ to the available shuttles, and into the castle.

“It's fairly simple, just go down in the tunnels and help move everyone along swiftly. I would like to leave the planet by nightfall.” Allura instructed.

They all agreed to it, but something just wasn’t sitting right with Hunk. And he wasn’t the only one. As they walked out from their lions and onto the surface of the planet, Hunk eyed Lance. He seemed unsettled, and he was uncharacteristically quiet.

It wasn’t until they got to the mouth of the cave that Hunk realized what the issue was. The tunnels were dark, and enclosed. They were narrow too, as the Jedaxians were not a very large race. They were small, bipedal, mousy people. The tunnels were just big enough for Shiro to step inside, but the top of his helmet almost grazed the rock ceiling. Despite that, everyone filed in heading towards the settlements, but Lance lingered behind.

“You okay?” Hunk asked. Lance started.

“Um, yeah. I didn’t realize…I mean I knew it was underground, but,” he stumbled over his words. “It’s so small.” He whispered, almost a whimper.

Oh. Oh crap. Hunk didn’t think about that, but Lance definitely had an issue with this kind of stuff.

“We can tell Shiro,” Hunk said immediately. “Find something else—“

“No, I can do this,” Lance said, but more like he was trying to convince himself. Not at all confident. “I need to help everyone. I just… need a moment.”

“You don’t have to push yourself though,” Hunk tried to convince him.

“There’s going to be lots of things I don’t want to do in this war,” Lance looked at him sincerely. “But out of all of them, I can do this. Really, I can.”

“All right,” said Hunk. “I’m here for you if you need anything.” He headed towards the entrance of the caves again. Lance closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and followed after him. They would do this as quickly as possible. In and out.

 

* * *

 

 

Hunk was so very wrong.

It started with a slight rattle in the walls, and a pause. Quickly, it evolved to shaking and cracking. A fissure formed in the wall behind Lance. Hunk watched, as if in slow motion, as it simultaneously traveled up above their heads and across the ground at their feet. It maneuvered like a snake, slow and slithering, and ended with a deafening crack.

The ground at Lance’s feet started to sink, the last of the people had been ushered away thankfully. Hunk lunged for Lance as the ground promptly opened up to swallow him hungrily. Hunk managed to grab his arm, but the weight of his fall pulled Hunk forward. He activated his jetpack, hoping to counteract the downward motion, but a rock from above landed a solid hit. The jetpack cracked, sputtered and died. Hunk shrieked, and in a matter of seconds, the two of them tumbled into the darkness together with rocks cascading down around them.

He lost consciousness, and didn’t even feel the impact with the bottom of the pit.  But when he finally woke it was to darkness and pressure on his body at odd points. Hunk pushed himself up and a flare white-hot shot up his right arm, and it gave out instantly. He grunted as he fell back against the ground.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness, it wasn’t completely pitch black. There was some kind of faint luminescence in the rock. His gaze drifted upwards to find a dome of boulders had formed around him. It didn’t disturb him as much as it probably should. Yet he felt like he was missing something. Something important.

Lance.

Oh crap, he wasn’t alone down here. How could he forget? Frantically, he managed to turn on the light of his gauntlet and scanned the area. His heart stopped when the small beam scanned across a white boot only a few feet away from him. And when he looked further, Lance was splayed out over the rocks like a marionette with its strings cut that fell to the stage. Hunk could see blood and other scrapes on his face where his helmet had been knocked off in their fall. He really hoped there weren’t more injuries hiding in the darkness. Lance was crying, taking in small shuddering breaths.

“Lance,” Hunk called. “It’s okay. I’m here.” 

He gasped, maybe surprised by Hunk’s voice. His eyes had been closed tight. His breathing sped up further when he looked around with the aid of Hunk’s light. “Hunk?” He asked with a breathy squeak. His eyes found him. He knew immediately there was a concussion, as if the blood trickling down his face from a cut lost somewhere in his hairline wasn’t the first clue.

“Yeah, it’s me. You’re gonna be okay, you know? The others will get us out.” Hunk reassured him.

Another deep breath. Or a wheeze really. “Can’t. Trapped. It’s dark. I don’t like it.”

“Just try and stay calm, buddy. Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“Can’t move my leg. Stuck.” His voice cracked on the last word. Like saying it out loud made it real for him. This was Lance’s worst nightmare come to life.

Hunk moved his flashlight to see if he could help free Lance’s leg. “Hold on. Let me see if I can help.”

There was a loose pile of rubble built up around Lance’s leg, trapping him from his foot to his knee. The rocks were larger than he could move with one hand. He tried to shift it, but Lance cried out as the weight moved on top of him.

“Sorry! Sorry, Lance, I can’t get you out.” Hunk admitted. He crawled back up to be where Lance could see him better.

Lance didn’t react. He looked drained now. The concussion was dampening the panic. Good and bad. Good since Lance wouldn’t panic, bad because it was probably a really terrible concussion. Hunk hoped that the others would find them soon.

“I want out of here,” Lance mumbled, his head rolled to the side to look at Hunk. “I want to go home.”

“I tried to call the others, but the comm isn’t working.” Hunk said. He tried again for good measure, but only the sound of static filled his ears. “And I can’t move the rocks with only one arm.”

Lance’s face scrunched up. “You have two arms though.”

Hunk couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, but one is broken. Can’t use it.”

Lance stared at him blankly. His panicked breathing was slowly starting to return to normal. But then as if he just realized what he heard, Lance’s eyes widened, alarmed. “Y-you’re hurt?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m more concerned about you.”

“I’m sorry you’re hurt. This is all my fault.” Lance mumbled.

“How do you figure that?”

“You’re here with me. We fell. I made you fall,” Lance said miserably. “S’all my fault.”

“No Lance. It’s not.” Hunk said softly. He wanted to take Lance into his arms and hold him close. But he couldn’t.  It made him feel powerless that he couldn’t do anything to get them out of this mess. He could only have faith that his friends were working hard to get them out.

The ground rumbled ominously around them. The tremors were light but still carried a sense of dread in their wake. They were on borrowed time now. Hunk wished he had access to his lion. Yellow could power through all this rock in an instant, but would also probably only increase the decline of the planet faster. He didn’t care at this point though. He just wanted to get out. Get out and get Lance help.

Lance cried as he could feel the earth vibrating around him. Hunk reached out and took Lance’s hand into his own, squeezing it tight. Lance looked like he wanted to fall asleep, and Hunk’s arm throbbed in time with his heartbeat. He murmured reassurances to Lance to keep him awake, keep them both distracted. They would be okay. They’ve been through worse than this.

 

* * *

 

 

Time passed. Sure enough, but he couldn’t tell how much. It felt like days, but had likely only been a few hours. Lance was barely conscious. His panic had subsided long ago, but he was barely aware of anything around him. Yet Hunk’s panic continued to rise with each passing second. He tried to not show how worried he was.

He just wanted to get out. He was tired and in pain.  Lance, even more so.  Hunk tried to keep him alert, but it was ineffective. Lance blinked owlishly at him, but didn’t say anything. He supposed he should just be thankful Lance was even still awake. Also, that he wasn’t suffering from any intense nausea. That would have been an extremely dangerous mess; Hunk couldn’t move Lance if he got sick.

Hunk activated the scanners on his helmet, one of the few functions still operating. The oxygen levels had dropped since they had been confined to this hell-scape. A few more hours and they would run out completely being this far below the surface. Hunk’s helmet could sustain him for longer if needed, but Lance’s helmet was missing. He tried to push that thought out of his mind for the moment. It hurt to think. Both his mind and arm were numb from pain.

“Hunk?” Lance called, his voice hoarse and barely audible.

“Yeah, Lance?”

“I don’t like it here,” he whispered. “Can we go home soon? I really want to go home.”

The question made his heart sink. “S-soon. Yeah, buddy.”

“I want to go home. I miss…I miss Shiro and Pidge.” He slurred tiredly.

“We’ll see them soon,” Hunk responded softly.

“I miss Keith, Allura, and Coran. I don’t… I don’t like it here.”

Hunk let out a breath. “I know you don’t. Can’t say I’m a fan either.”

Lance was quiet for a long moment. And Hunk knew he should keep him talking, but even when he tried it was getting harder to persuade Lance to speak. It honestly surprised him that he started talking at all. His thoughts were so scattered and unfocused, which wasn’t very reassuring. He feared the concussion was getting worse the longer it went untreated.

“I want to go home,” Lance repeated, so quietly the words weren’t even fully formed. Hunk just barely made out the statement.

“Soon, buddy,” Hunk tried to keep his voice even, despite how much he craved to be back in the castle. He didn’t want to be down here trapped amongst these rocks. He’d never felt so helpless before. “I promise it will be soon.”

“Okay,” Lance said with a breathy sigh.

The ground rumbled, stronger than the last time. Rocks began to fall in heavy chunks around them. Hunk raised his good arm above them, thanking the universe it was the arm that had his shield. He activated it, covering both of them from the falling debris.

But the world wasn’t falling in around them again. The dome of rocks fell in on one side, a tunnel opening up above them. A beam of light filtered in, the sound of an engine running rang through the air.

A moment later he saw the flash of a jet-pack coming down into their small prison. Judging by the red armor it was Keith.

“Hunk!” He exclaimed. “You’re okay!”

“Mostly,” Hunk smiled, relieved they had been found.

“The others are waiting above,” Keith started to explain. “We don’t have much time.” But he spotted Lance a moment later. “Is he…? I had two life signatures. Oh god.”

“Just unconscious. He’s suffering from a concussion. I tried to keep him awake, but it’s pretty bad,” Hunk explained. “I don’t know if we can wake him up again.”

“Can you carry him?”

Hunk shook his head. “No, my jet-pack is busted. On top of that, my arm is definitely broken.”

Keith grimaced but didn’t look too put off. “We can still get out. There’s this elevator type thing. Only works for smaller loads, but we only need to get you two up and out.”

“He can’t move.” Hunk said urgently. “He’s trapped under the rocks, and I couldn’t help him.”

Keith rushed over and knelt down next to them. He took in the sight of Lance’s leg beneath the rocks. “Only pinned, I think. There doesn’t seem to be too much damage.”

Keith pulled at the rocks. He struggled at first to even get the first one to budge. But after a few attempts, he finally managed to tug some loose. With a little more effort Lance’s leg was freed. Keith rushed over to his side. “We have to move him. Is he hurt anywhere else?”

“I don’t think so, but it was hard to tell,” Hunk answered. Moving Lance could be bad, but they didn’t have a choice unless they wanted to make this place their tomb as well.

 He activated his comm, and started speaking to whoever was on the receiving end. “I found them. Lower down the retrieval capsule.”

The engine sound above changed and there was an additional whir. It wasn’t quiet and it seemed to vibrate through the cave walls, which did not make Hunk very confident about their escape. But he couldn’t think of that right now.

Keith lifted Lance off the ground, and tilted him over his shoulder. He managed to stand, holding Lance in a precarious fireman’s carry where he had to hunch down being too tall for their small space. Hunk stood up beside him as best he could. From the spot Keith entered, a small elevator-like device appeared being hoisted down on a metal cable. It was like the bucket compartment from a cherry-picker truck. Not very roomy at all for three people. But they had to make it work.

Hunk stepped inside first. There wasn’t enough room to sit, so Keith lowered Lance onto his feet so that he could be propped up against him. He slumped lifelessly against between the two of them; it made his blood run cold. It looked so wrong.

“Bring us up,” Keith said. The cable started to retract upwards.

The earth began shaking and small rocks started raining down on them. Hunk tried his best to cover Lance, but the elevator ride up wasn’t going nearly fast enough for his liking. The capsule swayed as they rose higher, and the tremors continued to get worse.  Hunk just kept his eyes on Lance. Every rock that fell made him extremely anxious. Until finally they were surrounded by metal interior instead of rock. A hatch closed beneath them, and they seemed to be safely inside some kind of compartment.

“It’s the black lion,” Keith told him. “Since we couldn’t use your lion, Black was the next heavily armored lion in case of, well, a worst-case scenario.

Hunk nodded numbly. It was like his body knew that he was safe now, and he was suddenly exhausted. Keith took Lance and was able to pick him up just enough to take him over to a nearby bench to lay him down. Keith returned a moment later to help guide Hunk, apparently he forgot how to move his legs, and helped him onto a bench too. Then he sat beside the both of them.

Hunk could hear the loud pang of rocks as they fell heavily upon the exterior of the lion. Which meant they must have made it out just in the nick of time. It left Hunk feeling like frost was crawling over his skin, freezing him from the inside out, and his stomach churned dangerously. But the familiar sense of movement started and he could tell Black was in the air when the sound abruptly stopped; the calm after a storm.

Keith was speaking to Hunk, but he couldn’t process all of what was being said. Crap, he might be going into shock. Is this what shock felt like? He’d never experienced it before.

“We’ll be there soon,” Keith reassured. Hunk hummed an affirmation that he heard him.

“Gotta…get Lance to a pod,” Hunk managed to mumble. That’s all the really mattered to him.

“You know we’ll take care of both of you.”

Hunk managed a small smile. “Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

 

Hunk’s awareness after being escorted out of the Black Lion was spotty. He knew they arrived back at the castle. He was greeted by the rest of his extremely concerned team. Coran explained that he had a pretty severe break in two places in his arm. Then they helped him out of his armor and into a pod.

A day and a half later, he was sitting in the infirmary staring at a second pod. Lance was still healing inside of his. The head injury was taking slightly longer to heal, but Coran said he would be fine. And really he just had to keep reminding himself of that, too.

Lance was due to come out soon. He didn’t want to miss it. After everything they just went through, Hunk needed to be sure Lance was okay. He watched his brainwave activity on the readout of the pod, and so far it was normal. He was fortunate. Lance quite literally cracked his head open from the fall; it was so bad that he had a hairline fracture on his skull.

“He’ll come out soon,” Coran said softly upon walking into the infirmary. “Just a tick or so longer.”

“I know.”

With that, the cryopod beeped, and the glass dissolved. Lance blinked blearily and stumbled forward a bit. Hunk caught him and held firm.

“Ah, see! What did I tell you,” Coran grinned. “Welcome back, my boy!”

“Mmm, thanks,” Lance grumbled. He swiped at his eyes with his hand.

Coran stepped over to them. “Do you remember what happened?”

Lance looked dazedly at him for a few moments. “About what?”

“As to why you were in the pod,” Coran supplied.

“Oh,” Lance looked back over his shoulder as if just realizing where he was standing. “Um, no. Not really. I have a bit of a headache. I feel like maybe I hit my head really hard on something though…and it was dark.”

“Jedax collapsed on us, and we got sort of stuck underground for a while. You lost your helmet and hit your head pretty hard. You had a pretty bad concussion,” Hunk told him.

“I remember we were setting up to go to Jedax,” Lance said. He seemed to be shuffling through his memories, his eyes becoming distant for a moment. “It was a tunnel place, right? I really didn’t like it.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Hunk told him.

“Well fortunately,” Coran chimed in. “It doesn’t seem to have affected your long-term memory. So that’s good.”

“Yeah. I don’t know much after that. I just kind of remember wanting to go home, and Hunk…” Lance glanced over at him. “You were hurt, too. Weren’t you?”

“Just a broken arm.” Hunk shrugged.

“Oh man!” Lance groaned. “This mission sucked, didn’t it? Are the civilians of Jedax okay?”

“They’re fine. We evacuated everyone safely and just in time. You two were the only casualties,” Coran told them. “Let’s not make it a habit.”

“No promises,” Lance laughed lightly. He pinched the bridge of his nose briefly, rubbing it to seemingly ease whatever headache he was experiencing.

“I’m sure your headache will pass soon. All scans show healthy brainwaves, and there’s no inflation of any kind. All of your injuries have healed.” Coran informed him with a pat on the shoulder.

“Let’s get you something to eat,” Hunk suggested, and gestured to the door.

Lance nodded. They walked out together. Lance kept his arm wrapped around Hunk’s own as they walked side by side. Neither one wanting to let go quite yet.

“Thanks for getting me home,” Lance said, bumping Hunk’s shoulder slightly.

“I promised, didn’t I?” Hunk smiled. He would do anything to make sure that Lance would make it home, whether that’s the castle or, one day, getting back to Earth. He knew things would be difficult, but as long as they had their team it would be okay.  “I’ll get you home every time, buddy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Months ago, like back in September I think, Maychorian gave me a little prompt on tumblr "Hunk and Lance trapped in a cave-in, Hunk has a broken arm and Lance has a concussion?" 
> 
> So here you go, Maychorian! This is what I came up with. It took me forever to write and I realized I've never really written a concussion before, so it kind of challenged me. And I still feel like I didn't do it justice. But I hope you like the story anyway.
> 
> Also, who else is excited for season 5 in one month? I can't wait! My birthday is March 3rd, so getting the new season on the 2nd is the greatest birthday gift lol :D


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